PUTRAJAYA must explain the alleged imputations made by Meta in its newly released report, which links the police in attempts to manipulate public discourse by setting up a “troll farm”, Syahredzan Johan said. 

In a statement today, the DAP social media bureau chairman asked if the government had used public money to fund the troll farm, as alleged in the report. 

“If it is true, it reveals a concerted effort to manipulate public discussion using fake accounts and websites to benefit the government’s politics. 

“Although these accounts and these websites have been identified and deleted by Meta, this report shows that the government is funding trolls and cybertroopers using public funds and resources for their political interests,” the DAP leader said today. 

This matter came to light when Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, revealed in its Quarterly Adversarial Threat Report today that it had removed hundreds of Facebook and Instagram accounts, pages, and groups which are part of a troll farm aimed at social media users in the country. 

Meta said its investigation found links to the Malaysian police.

The Malaysian Insight has contacted the police and is waiting for a response. 

Meta said its report provides insight into global threats that the social media giant had tackled globally, including in Malaysia, Russia, Israel, Pakistan, India, South Africa, Greece, and the Philippines.

“We also removed three networks engaged in coordinated inauthentic behaviour (CIB) operations, including one network linked to a public relations firm in Israel, and two separate troll farms – one in Malaysia targeting domestic audiences and one in Russia targeting global discourse about the war in Ukraine.

“In Malaysia, we removed 596 Facebook accounts, 180 pages, 11 groups and 72 Instagram accounts for violating our policy against CIB. This network originated in Malaysia and targeted domestic audiences in that country.

“The individuals behind it ran a troll farm – a coordinated effort by co-located operators to corrupt or manipulate public discourse by using fake accounts and misleading people about who is behind them.

“They were active across the internet, including Facebook, TikTok, Twitter and Instagram, and posted memes in Malay in support of the current government coalition, with claims of corruption among its critics,” said the report.

On Facebook, this network managed pages, including those posing as independent news entities, and promoted police while criticising the opposition.

“We found this network after reviewing information about a small portion of this activity initially suspected to have originated in China by researchers at Clemson University. Although the people behind it attempted to conceal their identity and coordination, our investigation found links to the Royal Malaysian Police,” said the report.

The report said about 427,000 accounts followed one or more of these pages, while some 4,000 accounts followed one or more of these groups, and 15,000 accounts followed the Instagram accounts. 

“Around US$6,000 (RM26,741) was spent on advertisements on Facebook and Instagram,” said the report.

Syahredzan said the government is required to provide a detailed and transparent explanation on the allegations contained in the Meta report, adding that a failure to do so will give a negative perception that public bodies and resources have been used for political purposes of the government today. 

“It is not an exaggeration to conclude that apart from these accounts and sites, there are other accounts and websites, across various social media platforms, that also carry out similar activities.

“Public resources, including bodies that should serve all Malaysians, should not be used for political purposes like this,” he said. – August 5, 2022.